Glass fibers have been commonly incorporated in thermoplastic molded objects and other cured plastics for added strength and durability. The glass fiber is introduced in a mold where resinous plastic is then injected such that the glass fibers become imbedded into the final formed object. It has been found advantageous to form a preform of the final object out of glass fibers and place the preform into the mold. The glass fibers are often chopped and blown onto a preform screen. Immediately following the fiber placement, a binder agent is sprayed on and allowed to cure which sets the fibers in place.
The spraying of liquid binder onto the blown chopped fibers is an inefficient use of the binder material with much of the binder being lost through the foraminous screen and producing gaseous emissions. Secondly, control and even coverage of the binder onto the chopped glass is very difficult to achieve by the use of spray.
What is needed is a directed fiber method that eliminates the use of sprayed liquid binder while improving coverage and control of the binder material in the preform.